Hochul vetoes two-person crew mandate for NYC subway trains

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has vetoed legislation that would have required MTA New York City Transit to operate subway trains with both an operator and conductor.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) strongly supported the legislation out of a concern that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) would expand the use of one-person crews on its trains. Most subway trains currently operate with two workers, but some trains with fewer than 10 cars are staffed with one operator. 

"This bill would cost as much as $10 million annually, reducing service, and limiting the MTA’s ability to benefit from capital investments in modern rolling stock and signals,” Hochul said in a statement, as reported by Spectrum News NY 1.

The legislation would have prohibited the MTA from using one-person train operation, the global norm used by the vast majority of subway authorities across the world, according to several New York groups that opposed the legislation. 

"We strongly support efforts to provide New Yorkers with world-class public transit. This bill would have done the opposite by raising MTA operating costs and constraining the MTA’s ability to implement modern operating methods, adopt new technologies and provide better service for riders," according to a statement from the Citizens Budget Commission, the Partnership for New York City, Regional Plan Association, Reinvent Albany and the Transit Costs Project at the New York University Marron Institute of Urban Management.